Means for controlling operation of back drafting rolls on a drawing frame



Sept. 15, 1964 J. B. HORNBUCKLE 3,148,416

MEANS FOR CONTROLLING OPERATION OF BACK DRAFTING ROLLS ON A DRAWING FRAME 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 15, l962 z'gi 7% 5 arramvsrs O .v m K O .m m w a; w. M, o H e 6 6 u N 7 J m a 4 lb 3 8 I 2 5 4, o X 0 W 3 4 y z o 0 a c i o a o 4 w z o M M 9 3,148,416 ING HORNBUCKLE J. B. MEANS FOR CONTROLLI Sept. 15, 1964 NG OPERATION OF BACK DRAFT ROLLS ON A DRAWING FRAME 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 15, 1962 p 5, 1964 J B. HORNBUCKLE 3,148,416

MEANS FOR CONTRbLLING OPERATION OF BACK DRAFTING ROLLS ON A DRAWING FRAME Filed March 15, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INV EN TOR. JOE 8. HORIYBU C K 1. E

ATI'ORNE Y6 3,148,416 LLING OPERATION OF BACK DRAFTING p 1964 J. B. HORNBUCKLE MEANS FOR CONTRO ROLLS ON A DRAWING FRAME 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March 15, 1962 United States Patent MEANS FOR coN'rnorjuNo OPERATION or BACK DRAFTING ROLLS ON A DRAWING FRAME Joe Bayer Hornbuckle, Statesville, N.C., assignor to Rocky Creek Mills, Incorporated, a corporation of North Carolina Filed Mar. 15, 1962, Ser. No. 179,863 15 Claims. (Cl. 19236) The present invention relates to means for controlling operation of back drafting rolls on a drawing frame, and more particularly to means for controlling operation of back drafting rolls on a drawing frame having front drafting rolls that draw a composite strand from strands fed from more than one pair of back drafting rolls with the control means controlling operation of the back drafting rolls to vary the relative feed of the different strands to the front drafting rolls and thereby vary the composition of the drawn composite strand.

By the present invention a composite strand having segments of different color, texture or other characteristics may be drawn with the composition of the different segments being controlled as desired and with the segments being of any desired length or variety of lengths in a given strand. This is accomplished by connecting the feed means for each of the strands to drive means through restrainable driving connections and providing restraining means that operate selectively to engage and restrain the individual driving connections, thereby selectively restraining the feed of the individual strands so that the corresponding segment of the drawn strand will be composed entirely or in a greater proportion from the unrestrained strand or strands and the length of the segment determined by the period of restraint.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention the driving connections for the feed means are connected to a differential drive mechanism with a movable restraining member movable into restraining engagement with the driving connections selectively to restrain the feed of the corresponding strand while the differential mechanism drives the unrestrained driving connection arid its corresponding strand. The operation of the restraining member is automatically actuated by operating means that are controlled by pattern means to produce any desired pattern. The pattern means may be in the form of a rotating cam and cam follower with the cam follower automatically actuating the operating means in response to the contour of the cam. The cam may be of any desired size and contour to produce any desired composition variation in the drawn strand.

The features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a drawing frame having incorporated therein the control means of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of a portion of the drawing frame of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 2 with some parts omitted;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the left hand portion of the drawing frame of FIG. 1; and

FIGS is a vertical sectional view taken along line 55 of FIG. 4.

The specific embodiment of the present invention illustrated in the drawings is shown incorporated in a drawing frame 16 with the control means 12 of the present invention illustrated at the left of the frame as seen in FIG. 1.

The drawing frame has a plurality of pairs of front 3,148,415 Patented Sept. 15, 1964 ice drafting rolls 14, pairs of upper back drafting rolls 16 and pairs of lower back drafting rolls 18, with one upper and One lower pair of back drafting rolls associated with each front pair of drafting rolls. Each pair of upper back drafting rolls 16 feeds an upper strand Zii of material from a supply package 22 mounted on the drawing frame it above the rolls, through an upper back guide eye 23, through the nip of the upper back rolls and to the pair of front drafting rolls l4, and each pair of lower back drafting rolls is similarly feeds a lower strand 24 of material from a supply package 25 mounted back of the rolls, through a lower back guide eye 25, through the nip of the lower back rolls and to the pair of front drafting rolls 14.

The rate of feed of the pairs of back drafting rolls 14 and i6 is sufficiently less than the rate of feed of the pair of front drafting rolls 14 so that the strands 2t and 24 are drawn as they travel between the back drafting rolls and the front drafting rolls. The upper strand 2t) and lower strand 2d are aligned to feed to the same point at the nip of the pair of front drafting rolls 14 so that the front drafting rolls draw a single composite strand 28 from the individual upper and lower strands. The control means 12 of the present invention controls the feed of the pairs of back drafting rolls 16 and 18 to vary the feed of the individual strands 2t) and 24 so that the composition of the composite strand 28 will vary to contain more or less or all or none of the material from each individual strand.

As the composite strand 28 leaves the pair of front drafting rolls 14 it passes through a guide eye 30 and is twisted and wound on a conventional package below the eye so and carried on the conventional carriage 34.

Each pair of front drafting rolls 14 includes a bottom driven roll 36 having a knurled surface, with all of the driven rolls of all of the pairs of front drafting rolls mounted for rotation on a common drive shaft 38. This drive shaft 38 is driven from a main drive motor encased in the housing 40. The motor drives the main drive shaft 42, which is connected by gearing 44- to the front roll drive shaft 38.

The other roll 46 of each pair of front drafting rolls 14 is an idler roll mounted in a supporting bracket 48 and resting on top of the driven bottom roll 36 for rotation therewith. Also associated with the bottom driven rolls 36 is a clearer roll 47 in contact with the bottom of the driven roll and rotatable therewith to clear lint and other accumulations from the bottom rolls 36.

Each pair of upper back drafting rolls 16 includes a bottom driven roll 50 having a knurled surface, with the bottom driven roll 50 of each pair 16 mounted on a common upper drive shaft 52 that is driven from the main drive shaft 42 through connecting linkage and control means 12. The top roll 54 of each pair of upper back drafting rolls 16 is an idler roll mounted in the same bracket 48 that supports the top front drafting roll 45. This top roll 54 rests on the bottom roll 50 of the upper pair for rotation therewith.

Associated with the upper pair of back drafting rolls 16 is an upper apron 56, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 in the form of a continuous belt for the support of the upper strand 29 as it travels between the upper back drafting rolls 16 and the front drafting rolls 14. This upper apron 56 passes around and is driven by the bottom driven roll 59 of the upper pair and around an upper apron pin 58 mounted on the drawing frame 10 closely adjacent the nip of the front drafting rolls 14. The upper apron 56 is .tensioned by an idler roll 69 mounted in a bracket 62 pivoted to the upper apron pin 58 so that this idler roll 69 rests on the upper reach of the upper apron 56 and takes up any slack that may be in the apron.

Each pair of lower back drafting rolls 18 is similar to the above described pair of upper back drafting rolls 16, having a knurled bottom driven roll 64 mounted on a common lower drive shaft 65 that is driven through connecting linkage and control means 12 from the main drive shaft 42, and having a top idler roll 68 resting on the bottom roll 64 for rotation therewith. Also a lower apron 70 is associated with each pair of lower back drafting rolls 18 to support the lower strand 24 in its travel from the lower back drafting rolls 18 to the front drafting rolls 14. This lower apron 70 passes around the bottom roll 64, around a lower apron pin 72 mounted on the drawing frame adjacent the bottom front roll 36 and around a tensioning roll 74 mounted in a bracket 76 pivoted at 78 to the drawing frame 1%) below the bottom roll 64 of the lower back drafting rolls 18.

The control means 12 and driving connection connecting the upper back drive shaft 52 and lower back drive shaft 66 with the main drive shaft 42 is illustrated in detail in FIGS. 4 and 5 in which it is seen that the main drive shaft 42 is connected by a chain 80 to a differential mechanism 82 having a right hand shaft 84 and a left hand shaft 86 extending therefrom parallel to the main drive shaft 42 and supported in bearings 88 on the drawing frame 10. The right hand shaft 84 carries a sprocket 90 connected by a chain 92 to a sprocket 94 on the bottom drive roll 64 of the lower pair of back drafting rolls 18 for direct driving connection of the bottom rolls 64 by the differential mechanism 82.

The left hand shaft 86 of the differential mechanism 82 carries a sprocket 96 drivingly connected by chain 5'7 to a sprocket 98 on an intermediate shaft 188 mounted in bearings 102 and extending parallel to the differential mechanism shafts 84 and 86. The intermediate shaft 188 carries a drive sprocket 184 adjacent the drive sprocket 98 of the right hand shaft 84 of the differential mechanism 82. This intermediate shaft drive sprocket 184 is drivingly connected by chain 106 to sprocket 188 on the upper drive shaft 52 to effect driving rotation of the bottom rolls 50 of the pairs of upper back drafting rolls by the differential mechanism 82.

Due to the use of the differential mechanism 82 it is possible to restrain either the right hand differential shaft 84 or the intermediate shaft 188 to restrain the corresponding pair of back drafting rolls and thereby restrain feed of the corresponding strand 28, 24 while the differential mechanism 82 rotates the unrestrained shaft to feed the other strand.

The means for alternately restraining the right hand shaft 84 and the intermediate shaft 180 comprises aligned ratchet wheels 110 and 112 mounted on the right hand shaft 84 'and intermediate shaft 180 respectively. A pivoted restraining bar 114 is aligned with the ratchet wheels 110 and 112 and has a pawl 116 engageable with the ratchet wheel 110 on the right hand shaft 84 and another pawl 118 spaced from the pawl 116 and engageable with the ratchet wheel 112 on the intermediate shaft 180. The restraining bar 114 is pivotally mounted on an extension 120 of the drawing frame 10 at a point between the pawls 116 and 118. With this arrangement the bar 114 is pivotable for alternate engagement of the pawl 116 with the right hand shaft ratchet wheel 11% and the pawl 118 with the intermediate shaft ratchet wheel 112 to alternately restrain the corresponding shafts and therefore the feed of the corresponding back drafting rolls 16 and 18.

The restraining bar 114 is automatically actuated to pivot from one ratchet wheel and pawl engagement to the other by a solenoid 122 having a piston 124 that is raised from the downward position shown in solid lines in FIG. 5 to the dotted position shown in FIG. 5 upon energizing the electric winding of the solenoid 122. The piston is provided with flanges 126 that abut against the base of the solenoid 122 when the piston 124 is raised to the desired upward position. The piston 124 is connected by a connecting rod 128 to the pivoted bar 114 at a point outwardly of the right hand differential mechanism shaft 84. The pivoted bar 114 is retained in its lower position when the solenoid 122 is not energized by a coil spring 130 attached to the drawing frame 10 and to the pivoted bar 114 by rod extension 132.

In the lower position of the pivoted bar 114, shown in solid lines, the ratchet pawl 118 is in restraining engagement with the ratchet wheel 112 of the intermediate shaft 180 to stop rotation of the intermediate shaft and thereby stop feeding of the upper strand 28 with the differential mechanism 82 driving the unrestrained right hand shaft 84 to feed to lower strand 24 thereby drawing the composite strand 28 from the material of the lower strand 24 without material from the upper strand. The restrained upper strand 20 remains on the upper apron 56 at the nip of the front drafting rolls 14 so that upon resumption of rotation of the intermediate shaft 180 the upper strand 20 will feed into the front drafting rolls 14 to form the composite strand 28.

Upon actuation of the pivoted bar 114 by the solenoid 122 the pawl 118 disengages the intermediate shaft ratchet wheel 112 to resume feeding of the upper strand 20 and the pawl 116 engages the right hand shaft ratchet wheel to restrain rotation of the right hand shaft 84 and thereby stop feed of the lower strand 24 to the front drafting rolls 14 so that the composite strand 28 will be formed from the upper strand 20 with the lower strand 24 remaining on the lower apron 78 at the nip of the front drafting rolls 14 for subsequent feeding thereto.

With the above described construction the upper and lower strands 20 and 24 respectively are alternately fed to form the composite strand 28 with alternate sections of different composition as determined by the different material of the individual upper and lower strands.

In the embodiment illustrated the alternation of the feed and therefore the alternation of the different segments in the composite strand 28 is controlled by an automatic actuating mechanism including pattern means 134 that automatically control operation of the solenoid 122. The pattern means 134 includes a rotating cam 136 mounted on a shaft 138 that is driven by an electric motor 140 mounted on the drawing frame 10. A follower roller 142 on the end of an operating pin 144- of a rnicro-switch 146 is positioned for following contact with the contoured surface of the pattern earn 136.

When a raised portion 148 of the contoured surface of the pattern earn 136 travels past the follower roller 142 the operating pin 144 is displaced to operate hte microswitch 146. This micro-switch 146 actuates the solenoid 122 to raise the piston 124 and alternate the pivoted bar 114 from the lower position to the upper position, thereby alternating the feed of the back drafting rolls 16 and 18.

The contour of the pattern cam 136 may be varied as desired to produce any desired alternation in the composition of the composite strand 28, and other sizes, shapes and types of pattern means may be utilized to produce any desired alternation.

In the preferred embodiment the upper strand 20 and lower strand 24 differ in color to produce a composite strand 28 having alternate segments of different colors with the upper and lower strands being otherwise identical so that the size, quality and other characteristics of the composite strand 28 are uniform throughout. However, it should be understood that strands of different dyeing aflinity, different size and different other characteristics may be utilized to vary the composition of the composite strand 28 as desired.

The present invention has been described above in de tail with reference to a drawing frame having two pairs of back drafting rolls with the feed of the strand being alternately stopped. However, it is to be understood that additional back drafting rolls could be used with modification of the control means to form a composite strand from more than two feed strands and also to vary the feed of each strand from one feed rate to another rate rather than stopping the feed completely as described above.

In the above description and in the appended claims the invention is described in connection with drawing a strand of material. The Word strand is intended to include within its scope such things as roving, yarn or other similar forms of suitable material that can be processed on drawing frames or other similar devices to which the present invention is appli able as Well. Also, in the above description and in the appended claims the terms restraint or restraining of any element or elements is intended to means stopping of the element or elements rather than to merely slow down the movement thereof.

The present invention has been described above for purpose of illustration only, and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise except as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a drawing frame having more than one pair of back drafting rolls associated with a pair of front drafting rolls for feeding more than one strand of material to the pair of front drafting rolls for forming a single composite strand from said more than one strand, means for controlling the feed of said pairs of back drafting rolls to alternate the relative feed of the strands of said more than one strand and thereby vary the composition of said composite strand, said feed control means comprising drive means, a restrainable driving connection for each of said pair of back drafting rolls for drivingly connecting said rolls to said drive means, restraining means and a restraining member operable to restrain said driving connections selectively and thereby selectively restrain the feed of the back drafting rolls connected thereto with a resulting alternation in the feed of the different strands to the front drafting rolls and a variance in the composition of said composite strand.

2. In a drawing frame having more than one pair of back drafting rolls associated with a pair of front drafting rolls for feeding more than one strand of material to the pair of front draft rolls for forming a single composite strand from said more than one strand, means for controlling the feed of said pairs of back drafting rolls to alternate the relative feed of the strands of said more than one strand and thereby vary the composition of said composite strand, said feed control means comprising drive means, a differential mechanism driven by said drive means, a driving connection for each of said pair of back drafting rolls for drivingly connecting said rolls to said differential mechanism, restraining means and a restraining member operable to restrain said driving connections selectively and thereby selectively restrain the feed of the back drafting rolls connected thereto with a resulting alternation in the feed of the different strands to the front drafting rolls and a variance in the composition of said composite strand.

3. In a drawing frame having more than one pair of back drafting rolls associated with a pair of front drafting rolls for feeding more than one strand of material to the pair of front drafting rolls for forming a single composite strand from said more than one strand, means for controlling the feed of said pairs of back drafting rolls to alternate the relative feed of the strands of said more than one strand and thereby vary the composition of said composite strand, said feed control means comprising drive means, a restrainable driving connection for each of said pair of back drafting rolls for drivingly connecting said rolls to said drive means, restraining means associated with said driving connections, a movable restraining member selectively movable into engagement with said restraining means to restrain selectively said driving connections and restrain the feed of the back drafting rolls connected thereto with a resulting alternation in the feed of the different strands to the front drafting rolls and a variance in the composition of said composite strand.

4. In a drawing frame having more than one pair of back drafting rolls associated with a pair of front drafting rolls for feeding more than one strand of material to the pair of front drafting rolls for forming a single composite strand from said more than one strand, means for controlling the feed of said pairs of back drafting rolls to alternate the relative feed of the strands of said more than one strand and thereby vary the composition of said composite strand, said feed control means comprising drive means, a restrainable driving connection for each of said pair of back drafting rolls for drivingly connecting said rolls to said drive means, restraining means associated with said driving connections, a movable restraining member selectively movable into engagement with said restraining means to restrain selectively said driving connections and restrain the feed of the back drafting rolls connected thereto, automatically actuated means for selectively moving said restraining member into engagement with said restraining means during operation of the drafting rolls to restrain the connected back drafting rolls selectively and thereby alternate the feed of the different strands to the front drafting rolls and vary the composition of said composite strand.

5. In a drawing frame having more than one pair of back drafting rolls associated with a pair of front drafting rolls for feeding more than one strand of material to the pair of front drafting rolls for forming a single composite strand from said more than one strand, means for controlling the feed of said pairs of back drafting rolls to alternate the relative feed of the strands of said more than one strand and thereby vary the compositibn of said composite strand, said feed control means comprising drive means, a restrainable driving connection for each of said pair of back drafting rolls for drivingly connecting said rolls to said drive means, restraining means associated with said driving connections, a movable restraining member selectively movable into engagement with said restraining means to restrain selectively said driving connections and restrain the feed of the back drafting rolls connected thereto, an automatic actuating mechanism for selectively moving said restraining member into engagement with said restraining means automatically during operation of the drafting rolls to restrain the connected back drafting rolls selectively and thereby alternate the feed of the different strands to the front drafting rolls and vary the composition of said composite strand including pattern means to control automatically the pattern of operation of the restraining member to produce a desired composition pattern in the composite strand.

6. In a drawing frame having more than one pair of back drafting rolls associated with a pair of front drafting rolls for feeding more than one strand of material to the pair of front drafting rolls for forming a single composite strand from said more than one strand, means for controlling the feed of said pairs of back drafting rolls to alternate the relative feed of the strands of said more than one strand and thereby vary the composition of said composite strand, said feed control means comprising drive means, a differential mechanism driven by said drive means, a driving conection for each of said pair of back drafting rolls for drivingly connecting said rolls to said differential mechanism, restraining means associated with said driving connections, a movable restraining member selectively movable into engagement with said restraining means to restrain selectively said driving connections and selectively restrain the feed of the back drafting rolls connected thereto with a resulting alternation in the feed of the different strands to the front drafting rolls and a variance in the composition of said composite strand.

7. In a drawing frame having more than one pair of back drafting rolls associated with a pair of front drafting rolls for feeding more than one strand of material to the pair of front drafting rolls for forming a single composite strand from said more than one strand, means for conalas 11o trolling the feed of said pairs of back drafting rolls to alternate the relative feed of the strands of said more than one strand and thereby vary the composition of said composite strand, said feed control means comprising drive means, a difierential mechanism driven by said drive means, a driving connection for each of said pair of back drafting rolls for drivingly connecting said rolls to said differential mechanism, restraining means associated with said driving connections, a movable restraining member selectively movable into engagement with said restraining means to restrain selectively said driving connections and selectively restrain the feed of the back drafting rolls connected thereto, automatically actuated means for selectively moving said restraining member into engagement with said restraining means automatically during operation of the drafting rolls to restrain the connected back drafting rolls selectively and thereby alternate the feed of the different strands to the front drafting rolls and vary the composition of said composite strand.

8. In a drawing frame having more than one pair of back drafting rolls associated with a pair of front drafting rolls for feeding more than one strand of material to the pair of front drafting rolls for forming a single composite strand from said more than one strand, means for controlling the feed of said pairs of back drafting rolls to alternate the relative feed of the strands of said more than one strand and thereby vary the composition of said composite strand, said feed control means comprising drive means, a differential mechanism driven by said drive means, a driving connection for each of said pair of back drafting rolls for drivingly connecting said rolls to said differential mechanism, restraining means associated with said driving connections, a movable restraining member selectively movable into engagement with said restraining means to restrain selectively said driving connections and selectively restrain the feed of the back drafting rolls connected thereto, an automatic actuating mechanism for selectively moving said restraining member into engagement with said restraining means automatically during operation of the drafting rolls to restrain the connected back drafting rolls selectively and thereby alternate the feed of the different strands to the front drafting rolls and vary the composition of said composite strand including pattern means to control automatically the pattern of operation of the restraining member to produce a desired composition pattern in the composition strand.

9. Control means for a drawing frame having pairs of front drafting rolls with two pairs of back drafting rolls associated with each pair of front drafting rolls for feeding two strands of material to each pair of front drafting rolls whereby a single composite strand is drawn from the two strands, said control means comprising drive means, first restrainable connecting means drivingly connecting one of the pairs of back drafting rolls to said drive means and sec, ond restrainable connecting means drivingly connecting the other pair of back drafting rolls to said drive means, restraining means associated with each of said connecting means, a restraining member engageable alternately with each of said restraining means to restrain the engaged connecting means and thereby restrain alternately the pairs of back drafting rolls and the feed of the strand from each pair of back drafting rolls to the pair of front drafting rolls, thus alternating the composition of the drawn composite strand.

10. Cont-r01 means for a drawing frame having pairs of front drafting rolls with two pairs of back drafting rolls associated with each pair of front drafting rolls for feeding two strands of material to each pair of front drafting rolls whereby a single composite strand is drawn from the two strands, said control means comprising a driven differential mechanism, first connecting means drivingly connecting one of the pairs of back drafting rolls to the differential mechanism and second connecting means drivingly connecting the other pair of back drafting rolls to the differential mechanism for differential drive of said pairs of back drafting rolls, restraining means associated with each of said connecting means, a restraining member engageable alternately with each of said restraining member means to restrain the engaged connecting means and thereby restrain alternately the pairs of back drafting rolls and the feed of the strand from each pair of back drafting roll-s to the pair of front drafting rolls, thus alternating the composition of the drawn composite strand.

11. Control means for a drawing frame according to claim 9 and characterized further in that said restraining member comprise a restraining bar movable alternately from restraining engagement with one restraining means to restraining engagement with the other restraining means.

12. Control means for a drawing frame according to claim 9 and characterized further in that said restraining means comprise a rota-ting ratchet wheel on each of said connecting means, with said wheels being aligned and spaced apart and said restraining member comprising a pivoted restraining bar having ratchet pawls thereon adjacent said ratchet wheels and being pivoted about a pivot between said ratchet wheels for alternate pivoting of the ratchet pawls into restraining engagement with the ratchet wheels to stop rotation of said ratchet wheels alternately and thereby stop the related connecting means and the feed of the strand from the related pair of back drafting rolls.

13. Control means for a drawing frame having pairs of front drafting rolls with two pairs of back drafting rolls associated with each pair of front drafting rolls for feeding two strands of material to each pair of front drafting rolls whereby a single composite strand is drawn from the two strands, said control means comprising a driven differential mechanism, first connecting means drivingly connecting one of the pairs of back drafting rolls to the differential mechanism and second connecting means drivingly connecting the other pair of back drafting rolls to the differential mechanism for differential drive of said pairs of back drafting rolls, restraining means associated with each of said connecting means, a restraining member alternately engageable with said restraining means to restrain the engaged connecting means and thereby restrain the related pair of back drafting rolls and the feed of strand therefrom, and automatic operating means for automatically alternating said restraining member from restraining engagement with one restraining means into restraining engagement with the other restraining means to alternate the feed of strands to the front drafting rolls and thereby alternate the composition of the drawn composite strand.

14. Control means for a drawing frame according to claim 13 and characterized further in that said automatic operating means include pattern means for controlling operation of said restraining member to produce a desired pattern composition in the composite strand.

15. Control means for a drawing frame according to claim 14 and characterized further in that said pattern means comprise a rotating pattern cam and a cam follower to alternate said restraining member in response to the contour of said pattern cam.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,073,169 Roscoe Jan. 15, 1963 FOREIGN PATENTS 864,058 France Jan. 8, 1941 908,589 Germany Apr. 8, 1954 

1. IN A DRAWING FRAME HAVING A MORE THAN ONE PAIR OF BACK DRAFTING ROLLS ASSOCIATED WITH A PAIR OF FRONT DRAFTING ROLLS FOR FEEDING MORE THAN ONE STRAND OF MATERIAL TO THE PAIR OF FRONT DRAFTING ROLLS FOR FORMING A SINGLE COMPOSITE STRAND FROM SAID MORE THAN ONE STRAND, MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE FEED OF SAID PAIRS OF BACK DRAFTING ROLLS TO ALTERNATE THE RELATIVE FEED OF THE STRANDS OF SAID MORE THAN ONE STRAND AND THEREBY VARY THE COMPOSITION OF SAID COMPOSITE STRAND, SAID FEED CONTROL MEANS COMPRISING DRIVE MEANS, A RESTRAINABLE DRIVING CONNECTION FOR EACH OF SAID PAIR OF BACK DRAFTING ROLLS FOR DRIVINGLY CONNECTING SAID ROLLS TO SAID DRIVE MEANS, RESTRAINING MEANS AND A RESTRAINING MEMBER OPERABLE TO RESTRAIN SAID DRIVING CONNECTIONS SELECTIVELY AND THEREBY SELECTIVELY RESTRAIN THE FEED OF THE BACK DRAFTING ROOLS CONNECTED THERETO WITH A RESULTING ALTERNATION IN THE FEED OF THE DIFFERENT STRANDS TO THE FRONT DRAFTING ROLLS AND A VARIANCE IN THE COMPOSITION OF SAID COMPOSITE STRAND. 